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Updated: May 31, 2025
At length, they came in sight of numerous herds of fine cattle, attended by little boys, and shortly afterwards, they arrived at a clean and neat Fellata village, the inhabitants of which were employed in feeding calves, and other occupations connected with an African farm.
After they had retired to rest, a Fellata woman came to their dwelling, bringing with her a number of eggs of the guinea-hen, and a large bowl of milk fresh from the cow, as a return for a few needles they had given her in the afternoon.
War had just broken out between himself and the king of Bornou. Clapperton was on his way to visit that prince, and had left six muskets at Kano, supposed to be intended as presents to him; and six muskets in central Africa, where the whole Fellata empire could scarcely muster forty, were almost enough to turn the scale between those two great military powers.
The sultan and Barca Gana were attended by a considerable body of Bornou and Mandara cavalry, whose brilliant armour, martial aspect, and skilful horsemanship, gave confidence to the European officer, who had not seen them put to the proof. It was the third day, when the expedition came in view of the Fellata town of Dirkulla.
The king also sent a messenger with him, who was commissioned to visit all the towns and villages on the Nouffie side of the river, as far as the Fellata town of Rabba, and to request their chiefs and governors, in the name of the king of Boossa, to suffer them to pass down the river without injury or molestation. The following is a singular trait in the African character.
A young Fellata was the first who invited them on shore, and they despatched Pascoe to the chief to tell him who they were, and what they wanted. He quickly returned, saying that the old chief was ready to receive them, and they immediately proceeded to his residence. In a few minutes, they arrived at the Zollahe or entrance hut, in which they found the old man ready to receive them.
The Fellata messenger concluded by observing, that they would be visited on the morrow by the king of the dark water, who would escort them to the island in question, of which he was the governor. As early as five o'clock on the following morning, their canoes were loaded, and having breakfasted on a slice of yam, they were fully prepared to quit the island.
Some unpleasant suspicions floating on the mind of Clapperton, he took the first opportunity of returning to the subject, and on again inquiring about the papers of his unfortunate countryman, the sultan said, that the late iman, a Fellata, had had possession of all the books and papers, and that he had fled from Boussa some time since.
Before entering this place, and at the distance of a mile from it, they passed through a clean, extensive, and highly-flourishing Fellata village, called Acba, which, like most other places in Yarriba inhabited by Fellatas, was well stocked with sheep and cattle.
The walls of the town have been suffered to fall into decay, and are now no better than a heap of dust and ruins, and such unconcern and apathy pervade the minds of the monarch and his ministry, that the wandering and ambitious Fellata has penetrated into the very heart of the country, made himself master of two of its most important and flourishing towns, with little, if any opposition, and is gradually, but very perceptibly gaining on the lukewarm natives of the soil, and sapping the foundations of the throne of Yarriba.
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